Mohan K. Tikku

Political Science, Conflict Politics and Policy, International Relations and Politics

While Buddhists all over the world were celebrating 2,500 years of Gautama Buddha’s passing in 1956, Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was called then) was sowing the seeds of an ethnic conflict. To begin with, ...
More

While Buddhists all over the world were celebrating 2,500 years of Gautama Buddha’s passing in 1956, Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was called then) was sowing the seeds of an ethnic conflict. To begin with, language became the source of conflict between the Sinhalese majority and the minority Tamils, until violence itself became the language of discourse between the two ethnic groups. After the Fall shows how Sri Lanka’s post-independence exercise in nation formation was beset with using language domination as an instrument of partisan power and racial memories as the way to define nationhood. That resulted in an escalating conflict through half a century of ethnic violence—giving rise to one of the world’s most fearsome militant movements and the cult of the suicide bomber. It analyzes how Eelam war four (2006–9), which came like a tornado crashing through all the red-lines of a war (even a guerrilla war), succeeded—and at what cost and consequences. The book argues how the ‘success’ of this war, in which tens of thousands of civilians were killed, was the product of a unique combination of domestic and international factors. And why it cannot be replicated elsewhere as an example of fighting the ‘war against terror’.Less

After the Fall : Sri Lanka in Victory and War

Mohan K. Tikku

Published in print: 2016-06-01

While Buddhists all over the world were celebrating 2,500 years of Gautama Buddha’s passing in 1956, Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was called then) was sowing the seeds of an ethnic conflict. To begin with, language became the source of conflict between the Sinhalese majority and the minority Tamils, until violence itself became the language of discourse between the two ethnic groups. After the Fall shows how Sri Lanka’s post-independence exercise in nation formation was beset with using language domination as an instrument of partisan power and racial memories as the way to define nationhood. That resulted in an escalating conflict through half a century of ethnic violence—giving rise to one of the world’s most fearsome militant movements and the cult of the suicide bomber. It analyzes how Eelam war four (2006–9), which came like a tornado crashing through all the red-lines of a war (even a guerrilla war), succeeded—and at what cost and consequences. The book argues how the ‘success’ of this war, in which tens of thousands of civilians were killed, was the product of a unique combination of domestic and international factors. And why it cannot be replicated elsewhere as an example of fighting the ‘war against terror’.

Two decades after the Dayton Peace Agreement came into force, Bosnia is not at war. However, the absence of war is not peace. Bosnia has failed to move on from conflict. Political processes are ...
More

Two decades after the Dayton Peace Agreement came into force, Bosnia is not at war. However, the absence of war is not peace. Bosnia has failed to move on from conflict. Political processes are deadlocked. The country is in a state of political, social and economic paralysis. As the international community has downgraded its presence, conditions have deteriorated, irredentist agendas have resurfaced and the outlook is increasingly negative. War remains a risk because of myriad unresolved issues, zero-sum politics and incompatible positions among rival ethno-national elites. In the face of paralysis, international officials repeat the mantra that there is no alternative to Bosnia’s European path and urge the country’s leaders to see reason, to temper their rhetoric and to carry out internationally approved reforms—to no avail. Despite international reluctance to recognize failure, the day will come when it is impossible to ignore the gravity of the situation. When that day arrives, the international community will have to address the shortcomings of the peace process. This, in turn, will involve opening up the Dayton settlement. Christopher Bennett presents a cautionary political history of Bosnia’s disintegration, war and peace process. He concludes by proposing a paradigm shift aimed at building ethno-national security and making the peace settlement self-sustaining.Less

Bosnia's Paralyzed Peace

Christopher Bennett

Published in print: 2016-09-15

Two decades after the Dayton Peace Agreement came into force, Bosnia is not at war. However, the absence of war is not peace. Bosnia has failed to move on from conflict. Political processes are deadlocked. The country is in a state of political, social and economic paralysis. As the international community has downgraded its presence, conditions have deteriorated, irredentist agendas have resurfaced and the outlook is increasingly negative. War remains a risk because of myriad unresolved issues, zero-sum politics and incompatible positions among rival ethno-national elites. In the face of paralysis, international officials repeat the mantra that there is no alternative to Bosnia’s European path and urge the country’s leaders to see reason, to temper their rhetoric and to carry out internationally approved reforms—to no avail. Despite international reluctance to recognize failure, the day will come when it is impossible to ignore the gravity of the situation. When that day arrives, the international community will have to address the shortcomings of the peace process. This, in turn, will involve opening up the Dayton settlement. Christopher Bennett presents a cautionary political history of Bosnia’s disintegration, war and peace process. He concludes by proposing a paradigm shift aimed at building ethno-national security and making the peace settlement self-sustaining.

This book examines the disorienting impact on war of the burgeoning connectivity of ideas, people, and things. It argues that the Western perception of warfare has shifted from one of occasional and ...
More

This book examines the disorienting impact on war of the burgeoning connectivity of ideas, people, and things. It argues that the Western perception of warfare has shifted from one of occasional and distant occurrences of well-defined conflicts to a stream of more connected and ill-defined wars and disasters. War in itself has not changed but warfare — “how we fight” — continues to transform. The book focuses on the technological motor of this transformation, of which the putative information age is the latest, aggressive, but not unique phase. The obsessive pursuit by an array of actors in the military and political fields of a “fantasy of war”, seduced by the information technological logics of speed, precision, and absolute victory is the primary source of the diminution of war’s utility. The reality of warfare in the past, today, and over ever-extending horizons is inconclusiveness, uncertainty, and chance.Less

Carnage and Connectivity : Landmarks in the Decline of Conventional Military Power

David Betz

Published in print: 2015-11-15

This book examines the disorienting impact on war of the burgeoning connectivity of ideas, people, and things. It argues that the Western perception of warfare has shifted from one of occasional and distant occurrences of well-defined conflicts to a stream of more connected and ill-defined wars and disasters. War in itself has not changed but warfare — “how we fight” — continues to transform. The book focuses on the technological motor of this transformation, of which the putative information age is the latest, aggressive, but not unique phase. The obsessive pursuit by an array of actors in the military and political fields of a “fantasy of war”, seduced by the information technological logics of speed, precision, and absolute victory is the primary source of the diminution of war’s utility. The reality of warfare in the past, today, and over ever-extending horizons is inconclusiveness, uncertainty, and chance.

Some 250,000 people died in the southern Somalia famine of 2011–12, which also displaced and destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands more. Yet this crisis had been predicted in 2010. The ...
More

Some 250,000 people died in the southern Somalia famine of 2011–12, which also displaced and destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands more. Yet this crisis had been predicted in 2010. The harshest drought in Somalia’s recent history coincided with a global spike in food prices, hitting this arid, import-dependent country hard. The policies of Al-Shabaab, a militant Islamist group that controlled southern Somalia, exacerbated an already difficult situation, barring most humanitarian assistance, while the donors’ counter-terrorism policies criminalized any aid falling into their hands. A major disaster resulted from production and market failures precipitated by the drought and food price crisis, while the famine itself resulted from failure to respond quickly to these events—and was thus largely human-made. This book analyzes the famine: the trade-offs between competing policy priorities that led to it, the collective failure in response, and how those affected by it attempted to protect themselves and their livelihoods. It also examines the humanitarian response, including from actors that had not previously been particularly visible in Somalia—from Turkey, the Middle East, and Islamic charities worldwide.Less

Published in print: 2016-05-01

Some 250,000 people died in the southern Somalia famine of 2011–12, which also displaced and destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands more. Yet this crisis had been predicted in 2010. The harshest drought in Somalia’s recent history coincided with a global spike in food prices, hitting this arid, import-dependent country hard. The policies of Al-Shabaab, a militant Islamist group that controlled southern Somalia, exacerbated an already difficult situation, barring most humanitarian assistance, while the donors’ counter-terrorism policies criminalized any aid falling into their hands. A major disaster resulted from production and market failures precipitated by the drought and food price crisis, while the famine itself resulted from failure to respond quickly to these events—and was thus largely human-made. This book analyzes the famine: the trade-offs between competing policy priorities that led to it, the collective failure in response, and how those affected by it attempted to protect themselves and their livelihoods. It also examines the humanitarian response, including from actors that had not previously been particularly visible in Somalia—from Turkey, the Middle East, and Islamic charities worldwide.

Although the concept of “state failure” emerged after the Cold War, it gained major prominence after the September 11 attacks with the emerging discourse focusing primarily on the Greater Middle ...
More

Although the concept of “state failure” emerged after the Cold War, it gained major prominence after the September 11 attacks with the emerging discourse focusing primarily on the Greater Middle East. This book aims to critically analyse the current definitions and terminology of weak and fragile states, scrutinizing the political implications of the prevailing discourse within the setting of the broader Middle East. It also examines the domestic, regional, and global causes and consequences for the Middle East of the “fragility” of states stretching from Afghanistan and Pakistan in the east to Libya in the west. Employing multidisciplinary perspectives, this book studies the causes and implications of conceptual notions of state fragility across the region in relation to areas such as politics and security, economics and natural resources, intra-and inter-state relations, migration and population movements, and the broader regional and global political economies. It shows that not only are several states in the Middle East chronically “weak”, e.g. Lebanon, Yemen, and the Sudan, most others possess inherent structural and institutional features that compromise their capacity, devoid them of legitimacy, and make them prone to weakness.Less

Fragile Politics : Weak States in the Greater Middle East

Published in print: 2016-04-15

Although the concept of “state failure” emerged after the Cold War, it gained major prominence after the September 11 attacks with the emerging discourse focusing primarily on the Greater Middle East. This book aims to critically analyse the current definitions and terminology of weak and fragile states, scrutinizing the political implications of the prevailing discourse within the setting of the broader Middle East. It also examines the domestic, regional, and global causes and consequences for the Middle East of the “fragility” of states stretching from Afghanistan and Pakistan in the east to Libya in the west. Employing multidisciplinary perspectives, this book studies the causes and implications of conceptual notions of state fragility across the region in relation to areas such as politics and security, economics and natural resources, intra-and inter-state relations, migration and population movements, and the broader regional and global political economies. It shows that not only are several states in the Middle East chronically “weak”, e.g. Lebanon, Yemen, and the Sudan, most others possess inherent structural and institutional features that compromise their capacity, devoid them of legitimacy, and make them prone to weakness.

Afghanistan’s people have contended with an almost continuous series of foreign interventions in their local affairs in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Not only have external powers such as ...
More

Afghanistan’s people have contended with an almost continuous series of foreign interventions in their local affairs in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Not only have external powers such as British India, the Soviet Union, Pakistan, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization meddled egregiously in local affairs, but so have Afghan governments, including monarchical, Communist, Islamist, and ostensibly democratic ones. While the robust resilience of the Afghan population in the face of external influence is widely recognised, how the local populations have concretely dealt with these interventions and how local politics is structured in Afghanistan still remain somewhat open questions. This book sheds light on this phenomenon as well as illuminating the complexities of local politics in Afghanistan, analysing also how the local social order is disturbed or reinforced by outside intervention. It furthermore advances our understanding of Afghan society by presenting local politics in a way that frees it from the false binary of romanticisation and demonisation. A central theme is understanding how rational objectives play out in local politics and are guided by social factors such as trust, solidarity, reciprocity, and patronage. The book also explores the role jirgas and shuras have played in negotiating between the local and external interventionists.Less

Local Politics in Afghanistan : A Century of Intervention in the Social Order

Published in print: 2013-01-01

Afghanistan’s people have contended with an almost continuous series of foreign interventions in their local affairs in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Not only have external powers such as British India, the Soviet Union, Pakistan, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization meddled egregiously in local affairs, but so have Afghan governments, including monarchical, Communist, Islamist, and ostensibly democratic ones. While the robust resilience of the Afghan population in the face of external influence is widely recognised, how the local populations have concretely dealt with these interventions and how local politics is structured in Afghanistan still remain somewhat open questions. This book sheds light on this phenomenon as well as illuminating the complexities of local politics in Afghanistan, analysing also how the local social order is disturbed or reinforced by outside intervention. It furthermore advances our understanding of Afghan society by presenting local politics in a way that frees it from the false binary of romanticisation and demonisation. A central theme is understanding how rational objectives play out in local politics and are guided by social factors such as trust, solidarity, reciprocity, and patronage. The book also explores the role jirgas and shuras have played in negotiating between the local and external interventionists.

The “War on Terror” gave rise to stark visions of a Christian West battling a mad mullah from the East over nothing less than the fate of civilization. These baldly Orientalist constructions are only ...
More

The “War on Terror” gave rise to stark visions of a Christian West battling a mad mullah from the East over nothing less than the fate of civilization. These baldly Orientalist constructions are only the latest incarnation of an older, deeper relationship between Orientalism and war, one that can be traced as far back as the Greek and Persian wars of antiquity. This volume examines the Orientalist constructs that arise from conflict and military intervention in the non-European world. Rather than simply describing Western representations of the East during times of war, it seeks to place them in motion, looking at the dynamics that ensue when policy is conceived and made in and through Orientalist and colonial discourses. In exploring the fate of Western assumptions of superiority amid war, insights also emerge about how interpretive communities of Orientalists—such as Terrorism experts—shape and inform many of the social and political processes that constitute war. Scholars from a range of disciplines examine these themes across a variety of sites, ranging from French Algeria to Korea to contemporary Afghanistan.Less

Orientalism and War

Published in print: 2013-01-08

The “War on Terror” gave rise to stark visions of a Christian West battling a mad mullah from the East over nothing less than the fate of civilization. These baldly Orientalist constructions are only the latest incarnation of an older, deeper relationship between Orientalism and war, one that can be traced as far back as the Greek and Persian wars of antiquity. This volume examines the Orientalist constructs that arise from conflict and military intervention in the non-European world. Rather than simply describing Western representations of the East during times of war, it seeks to place them in motion, looking at the dynamics that ensue when policy is conceived and made in and through Orientalist and colonial discourses. In exploring the fate of Western assumptions of superiority amid war, insights also emerge about how interpretive communities of Orientalists—such as Terrorism experts—shape and inform many of the social and political processes that constitute war. Scholars from a range of disciplines examine these themes across a variety of sites, ranging from French Algeria to Korea to contemporary Afghanistan.

How do strategists decide what they wish to achieve through war, and how they might accomplish it? And why does their understanding of violence regularly turn out to be wrong? In seeking answers, ...
More

How do strategists decide what they wish to achieve through war, and how they might accomplish it? And why does their understanding of violence regularly turn out to be wrong? In seeking answers, this book draws on the study of psychology to examine strategic behaviour during the Vietnam War. It explores the ways in which cognitive biases distort our sense of our own agency and our decision-making. The Nixon and Johnson administrations both proved susceptible to processes that are familiar to students of modern neuroscience and psychology, but perhaps less appreciated within strategic studies. US strategists in the Vietnam era miscalculated in ways that would surprise rational theorists, but not psychologists: they exaggerated the stakes, embraced risky and overly optimistic solutions, and failed to appreciate the limits of force to shatter the enemy’s resolve. Their concern for reputation led to escalation, based on a flawed conception of what such escalation could achieve.Less

The Psychology of Strategy : Exploring Rationality in the Vietnam War

Kenneth Payne

Published in print: 2015-05-15

How do strategists decide what they wish to achieve through war, and how they might accomplish it? And why does their understanding of violence regularly turn out to be wrong? In seeking answers, this book draws on the study of psychology to examine strategic behaviour during the Vietnam War. It explores the ways in which cognitive biases distort our sense of our own agency and our decision-making. The Nixon and Johnson administrations both proved susceptible to processes that are familiar to students of modern neuroscience and psychology, but perhaps less appreciated within strategic studies. US strategists in the Vietnam era miscalculated in ways that would surprise rational theorists, but not psychologists: they exaggerated the stakes, embraced risky and overly optimistic solutions, and failed to appreciate the limits of force to shatter the enemy’s resolve. Their concern for reputation led to escalation, based on a flawed conception of what such escalation could achieve.

The atrocities of civil wars present us with many difficult questions. How do seemingly ordinary individuals come to commit such extraordinary acts of cruelty, often against unarmed civilians? Can we ...
More

The atrocities of civil wars present us with many difficult questions. How do seemingly ordinary individuals come to commit such extraordinary acts of cruelty, often against unarmed civilians? Can we ever truly understand such acts of “evil”? Based on a wealth of original interviews with perpetrators of violence in Sierra Leone’s civil war, this book provides a detailed response. Moving beyond the rigid boundaries of political science, the author engages with sociology, psychology and social psychology, to provide a comprehensive picture of the complex individual motives behind seemingly senseless violence in war. Highlighting the inadequacy of current explanations that center on the anarchic nature of brutality, or conversely, its calculated rationality, this book sheds light on the critical but hitherto neglected roles played by the emotions of shame and disgust. Drawing on first-hand accounts of strategies employed by Sierra Leone’s rebel commanders, it documents the manner in which rebel recruits were systematically brutalized and came to perform horrifying acts of cruelty as routine. In so doing, it offers fresh insight into the causes of extreme violence that holds relevance beyond Sierra Leone to the atrocities of contemporary civil wars.Less

Rebels in a Rotten State : Understanding Atrocity in the Sierra Leone Civil War

Kieran Mitton

Published in print: 2015-10-01

The atrocities of civil wars present us with many difficult questions. How do seemingly ordinary individuals come to commit such extraordinary acts of cruelty, often against unarmed civilians? Can we ever truly understand such acts of “evil”? Based on a wealth of original interviews with perpetrators of violence in Sierra Leone’s civil war, this book provides a detailed response. Moving beyond the rigid boundaries of political science, the author engages with sociology, psychology and social psychology, to provide a comprehensive picture of the complex individual motives behind seemingly senseless violence in war. Highlighting the inadequacy of current explanations that center on the anarchic nature of brutality, or conversely, its calculated rationality, this book sheds light on the critical but hitherto neglected roles played by the emotions of shame and disgust. Drawing on first-hand accounts of strategies employed by Sierra Leone’s rebel commanders, it documents the manner in which rebel recruits were systematically brutalized and came to perform horrifying acts of cruelty as routine. In so doing, it offers fresh insight into the causes of extreme violence that holds relevance beyond Sierra Leone to the atrocities of contemporary civil wars.

Fluctuations in opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan have long been closely associated with perceptions of state power, such as after the Taliban imposed an almost countrywide ban in 2000-1. The ...
More

Fluctuations in opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan have long been closely associated with perceptions of state power, such as after the Taliban imposed an almost countrywide ban in 2000-1. The international community’s subsequent attempts to ban opium poppy cultivation became intimately linked with its state-building project, and rising levels of cultivation were often cited as evidence of failure by those international donors who spearheaded stabilization and development in opium-growing provinces like Helmand, Nangarhar and Kandahar. Mansfield examines why drug control - particularly opium bans - have been imposed in Afghanistan; he documents the actors involved; and scrutinizes how prohibition served quite divergent and sometimes competing interests. Drawing on almost two decades of fieldwork in rural areas, his book charts how these bans impacted on farming communities, how prohibition endured in some areas accompanied by improvements in welfare and stable political settlements, while in others opium production bans undermined livelihoods and destabilized the political order, fueling violence and rural rebellion. Above all this book challenges how we have come to understand political power in rural Afghanistan. Far from being the passive recipients of acts of violence by state and non-state actors, Mansfield highlights the role that rural communities have played in shaping the political terrain, including establishing the conditions under which they could persist with opium production.Less

A State Built on Sand : How Opium Undermined Afghanistan

David Mansfield

Published in print: 2016-05-01

Fluctuations in opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan have long been closely associated with perceptions of state power, such as after the Taliban imposed an almost countrywide ban in 2000-1. The international community’s subsequent attempts to ban opium poppy cultivation became intimately linked with its state-building project, and rising levels of cultivation were often cited as evidence of failure by those international donors who spearheaded stabilization and development in opium-growing provinces like Helmand, Nangarhar and Kandahar. Mansfield examines why drug control - particularly opium bans - have been imposed in Afghanistan; he documents the actors involved; and scrutinizes how prohibition served quite divergent and sometimes competing interests. Drawing on almost two decades of fieldwork in rural areas, his book charts how these bans impacted on farming communities, how prohibition endured in some areas accompanied by improvements in welfare and stable political settlements, while in others opium production bans undermined livelihoods and destabilized the political order, fueling violence and rural rebellion. Above all this book challenges how we have come to understand political power in rural Afghanistan. Far from being the passive recipients of acts of violence by state and non-state actors, Mansfield highlights the role that rural communities have played in shaping the political terrain, including establishing the conditions under which they could persist with opium production.

PRINTED FROM OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.oxfordscholarship.com). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2017. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in OSO for personal use (for details see http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/page/privacy-policy).date: 26 September 2017